by James Cowell
Age assurance on the internet is no longer theoretical. With states like Texas, Utah, and Louisiana mandating government ID checks for even routine online activity, the digital landscape is shifting—fast. The question now isn’t whether age assurance will shape the internet, but who will set the rules and how far government power will reach.
Unfortunately, the leading federal proposal on the table—the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA)—pushes us toward a future defined by broad government intrusion cloaked in the language of “protecting kids.” History shows that whenever lawmakers start invoking children to justify sweeping new mandates, alarms should go off. These efforts often function as Trojan horses, smuggling expanded government authority into private enterprise and personal liberty under the guise of safety.
The ASAA is no exception. It would require app stores to verify every user’s age with government IDs or birth certificates, regardless of whether the user is trying to access a gambling site or a digital flashcard app. This one-size-fits-all approach imposes an “adult content” standard across the entire mobile ecosystem, forcing millions of Americans to hand over sensitive documents simply to maintain an app store account.
Worse, the bill compels app stores to pass users’ age categories and parental-consent information to any app developer that requests it—including low-risk apps with no need for such data. That isn’t child safety; it’s mass data exposure. And it’s the beginning of a government-managed identity-verification regime that sets a dangerous precedent far beyond the tech sector.
Even on its own terms, ASAA fails. Its focus on the app store “front door” ignores the many alternative paths kids use to reach online content—browsers, sideloaded apps, preinstalled software. A determined teenager can simply pivot to a web version of the same platform and bypass the ASAA entirely. Meanwhile, large carveouts for gaming consoles, VR devices, and smaller app stores undermine the bill’s stated goals while preserving broad new mandates for the biggest players.
The good news is that Congress does have a better, more restrained option: the Parents Over Platforms Act (POPA). POPA rejects the government-knows-best model in favor of a targeted, risk-based framework that regulates only apps that offer different experiences for adults and minors or are intended strictly for adults. Instead of deputizing tech companies into a government ID-collection infrastructure, POPA requires developers of high-risk apps—not every small business with a mobile presence—to implement age-appropriate safeguards within the app itself.
POPA also closes the loopholes ASAA leaves wide open by extending protections to apps accessed through web browsers. And unlike ASAA, POPA respects user privacy: it bans using children’s data for targeted ads and prevents developers from reverse-engineering a child’s age from platform signals. Parents get a centralized dashboard to manage permissions—without the endless “consent fatigue” ASAA creates.
The internet is changing, and reforms are needed. But policymakers must resist letting “for the children” become a blank check for expanding government to even larger extremes. ASAA pushes us toward a surveillance-style system that erodes privacy and expands government reach without meaningfully improving child safety.
POPA offers the rare alternative: a bill that protects kids while keeping government power in check. Congress should choose the path that safeguards both children and liberty.
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James Cowell serves as Tennessee’s Director of higher education for a national grassroots organization focused towards preserving First Amendment rights. Cowell has been heavily involved with several organizations such as TPUSA and YAF. In addition to these organizations, Cowell served as Chief Operating Officer for the state’s Uncensored America chapter, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting for freedom of speech.
